St. John Feet, Fins and Four Wheel Drive [Paperback]

Pam Gaffin (Author), Pam Gaffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

A complete, easy-to-use, fun, travel guide to exploring St. John, Virgin Islands. It tells you exactly where to go, how to get there, and what to do and see when you arrive. It contains everything you need to know about the St. John's beaches and hiking trails, as well as its confusing system, of roads, foot-paths and goat-trails. Recommended by Caribbean Travel and Life and by many St. Johnians since locals are NOT on vacation and can't always take time off from work to be a tour guide for their guests. Best Selling St John Guidebook since 1994. Updated in 2009.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pam Gaffin has lived on St John since 1989. She is an avid hiker and snorkeler. Not content with hiking the marked trails and swimming in all the bays, Pam is one of the few (only?) people that has both snorkeled and hiked the island's perimeter, along with all the ghutts on the island.

As an avid world explorer, Pam has used many guidebooks - some great, some terrible. She used that knowledge to write a book that is fun to read as well as informative. Much to her surprise, St John Feet Fins and Four Wheel Drive has been a best seller since 1994!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome to St. John

You've made it to the island - your long awaited vacation in the American Paradise is about to begin. You're standing on the ferry dock or sitting on your balcony admiring the view. Now what?

St. John is not large, not very developed, not very populous, and not very sophisticated. If your idea of a dream vacation features glitzy nightlife, tons of shopping, noisy casinos and lots of people - you are on the wrong island.

However, if you have arrived on St. John in search of natural beauty, friendly people, a vibrant community, and a pristine environment - then you are in exactly the right place.

Why? Because St. John is unique. It has a distinctly different history than St. Thomas, St. Croix or Tortola. There are subtle reasons for this - cultural, tribal, geographic, and agricultural reasons. St. Johnians have always taken pride in their well-deserved reputation for being fiercely independent, self-sufficient, and community-minded. What other tiny tropic island would refer to its only town as 'Love City?'

Another reason St. John is so unique is because of the National Park. Over half the island falls within its protective boundaries. No other island in the Caribbean has expended so much money, time, talent, careful thought, and hard labor to ward off the corrosive influence of modern man.

You say you want beaches? There are 39 of them - big ones, little ones, crowded ones, and lonely ones. There are beaches for sunbathing, beaches for beachcombing, and beaches for snorkeling. We've got sandy bays, rocky bays, mangrove bays and even salt ponds. There are beaches which are only two steps from your car, and beaches that you can only get to by hiking a long way. A few of our beaches have shops, snack bars and facilities - but most are splendidly undeveloped and natural.

No matter how idealized your expectations of the 'perfect tropical beach' may be - we've got a beach which will meet or exceed them. Guaranteed.

Hiking? St. John has ten minute and all day trails, easy trails and rather hard trails - and trails to historic ruins, isolated beaches, and salt ponds teeming with birds. There are over 20 miles of trails just in the park alone.

As for historic sites, there are ruins of five windmills on the island, old sugar cane factories, plantation Great Houses, mysterious petroglyphs, and even the landmarks of one of the most important slave insurrections in the world.

St. John roads snake alongside some of the most spectacular beaches in the world, and regularly offer breathtaking views of both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Taxis are available to take you to some of the more popular beaches, but the best way to fully explore St. John is by rental jeep.

There are many curve-by-curve 'jeep tours' within this book, and one of them is just right for you, whether you're able to spend an active day or a leisurely month exploring the island.

We do, of course, have night life and shopping - and we certainly know how to party. Cruz Bay has a wide variety of shops, restaurants and bars but you don't need a guide book for that - just wander around town and enjoy. Wednesdays and Fridays are the biggest nights for live bands, but there's usually music somewhere on other nights. Special events, like a fish fry or benefit dance or baseball game or kite flying contest or historical lecture are advertised by posters all over town.

OK, now where are the beaches, the ruins, the protected forests and the trails? What should you do if you've only got one day? How can you get around the island?

That's what this book is for - to tell you what's out there, how to get to it, how to find it and how to enjoy it.

Welcome to St. John. Have fun exploring. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 142 pages
• Publisher: Amer Paradise Pub (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963106090
• ISBN-13: 978-0963106094
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars St. John's at its best!, June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: St. John: Feet, Fins and Four-Wheel Drive (Paperback)

I used this book to help plan my week long stay on St. John a couple of years ago. What a week! It has some excellent driving tours of the island that will take you to out of the way bays for snorkeling where you may be the only people there! It leads you on hikes through the rain forest to places that few people venture with spectacular views and interesting historical sites. If you are planning a trip to St. John and want to see the real island, from the End of the Road Stand to the Salt Pond, this is definitely the book to take along.

Rob Sparks

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars St. John's, December 14, 1999

By 

Thomas Young (Raleigh, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. John: Feet, Fins and Four-Wheel Drive (Paperback)

My wife and I used this book a great deal on a recent one week vacation to St. John. The book was excellent and very accurate in detail of information. A very useful guide to hiking trails, back roads, with a very thorough and accurate review of beaches. If you know what you're looking for, this book provides an excellent reference. If you don't know, it provides an excellent resource for reading and planning. It helped make our trip more enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable Guidebook for St. John, June 25, 2001

By 

J. McEntyre (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. John: Feet, Fins and Four-Wheel Drive (Paperback)

This book was part of the library in the villa my wife and I rented on St. John for our honeymoon. It was indispensable - It had descriptions for all the beaches, including the hard to get to but worth the hike Waterlemon Cay.

I'm going back to St. John this year, and I'll be taking this book with me.